Picturesque
by Jellybeansmaybecrazy
Summary: Travis and Connor are forced to move to a teeny tiny town for a year and they're less than thrilled...until they find out a certain daughter of Demeter lives there as well. Yeah, I'm terrible at summaries, but it's a Tratie and ConnorxOC thing.
1. 1- The Beginning

_Hello! Remember me? No? Okay…_

_This is my new story…well, not so new (I began writing this in DEVIANTART, the coolest place on earth)._

_I have so far, I think, 3 chapters done, but I'm not going to upload them all at the same time…probably._

_This is a Tratie fanfic, hope you like it, and I don't own the Stoll brothers, Katie Gardner or anything PJO related._

**Picturesque: Chapter1 (from Katie's POV)**

Just before the sun was out I jumped out of bed. It was a cool morning and I quickly threw on a sweatshirt before running outside.

The breeze smelled of wild flowers and the thick fog covering made everything look most beautiful and mysterious. I took in my surroundings, and a deep breath. Everything was so peaceful and quiet it made me smile. I looked around once more and started running to the woods.

There was a reason I was up so early. No one knew about it, and that just made it more special. It wasn't simply a place, nor an ordinary view. It was art. The way the colors mixed together giving light, and the way everything shined in the new sunlight...well, there wasn't any other word to describe it.

I reached the base of the hill and started climbing. Finally I reached the crest, and it was just in time.

As the dazzling sun light painted the sky and everything near enough, such as my hill. I turned to look down at the little town surrounding me. It appeared, if possible, smaller from up here, but the loveliest home-ish style made it look almost pretty. I could see everything, from the one post office to old Mr. George's farm. There was the newly painted grocery store, and over there the Raving's mansion, and if you look close enough you can make out the top of our little flower store.

I looked at the time and seeing it was already 7:00 I climbed down with reluctance. Making my way to the farm house took almost no time. It wasn't technically a farm house, since it wasn't in a farm, but it looked so much like one that everyone called it that.

I quietly opened the door and sneaked inside. Grabbed my backpack and sneaked back downstairs. It was almost a record, not being caught sneaking in and out right before school. Almost.

"May I ask where do you think you're going?" said an unbearable mocking voice. I slowly turned around, dreading what I was about to face. Sitting crossed-arm on the couch was Sabrina Housting. Or as I'm supposed to call her: mother.

"I'm going to school" I said hesitantly. Sadly, she didn't buy it.

"You ARE going to school, but you were SUPPOSED to be there an hour ago when you left saying you had early study hall. Now are you going to tell me WHERE where you for the last 60 minutes?" her voice was rising dangerously and I wasn't eager to face an angry Sabrina, again.

"I was going to school, but I... forgot my backpack!" I answered timidly gesturing to the said backpack on my shoulder, hoping with all my heart that she wouldn't notice the mathematically impossible fact. I should have known it was too much to wish for.

"Oh and it took you a whole hour, when it normally takes only fifteen minutes!" she was practically screaming now. I needed to be careful or my father would wake up.

"Yes it took me longer than usual for the one crazy fact, called slow-walking" I answered calmly, while throwing open the door and rushing outside. She was only able to shout:

"KATIE GARDNER! We WILL finish this when your back from..." before I snapped the door shut.

With a sigh I made my way to school. Thinking all the way about how bad life can get. Since my father decided to get married everything went wrong. We had to move to this tiny town, my stepmother turned horrible, etc. The only stroke of luck I ever got was going to Camp Half-Blood, and with all the deathly activities it provided (including occasional hungry monsters) I wasn't sure whether to call it a "good thing". My life couldn't get any worse.

I couldn't have known how wrong I was.


	2. 2- The Beginning 2

_THIS IS CHAPTER 2….uploaded the same day as chapter 1!_

_I do NOT own Percy Jackson and the Olympians. Rick Riordan does, so blame him if your favourite character dies in the series…or is thrown into Tartarus :'(_

**Picturesque: Chapter2 (Travis' POV)**

School. The simple word sent chills down my back. Why? Why was mom so CRUEL? What did we ever do to deserve this?

"Are we there yet?"

And then there was Connor. My imessurably annoying younger by-66-secs brother. Was I really bad enough to deserve a long bus ride next to him? Next to his constant whining? Next to his open-mouth chewing style? Probably. But still!

"No, Connor, we aren't there yet." I said, my voice reaching an edge.

"Good because I never want to arrive," he exclaimed, causing the couple sitting infront of us to turn around and give us dirty looks.

"So, you'd rather stay in this old bus that smells of rotten eggs, toothpaste and Zeus only knows what else? And keep it down…or not." I commented causing my brother to smirk. You see, I am NOT a good boy. Connor isn't a good boy, either. We are troublemakers. The best troublemakers that have ever walked this earth since Dinosaur's times, maybe even farther back since Shakespear's time. We are Stolls and this is our thing.

"Why did mom suddenly decided to send us here, thought?" He questioned. "What's the point on sending us to a teeny-tiny town in the middle of the nowhere? It's not like we'll be any good here, if anything we'll be worse."

"It's NOT in the middle of the nowhere. It's actually in Mexico, near the sea," said an unknown accented voice from behind me. We turned around to see a bright-eyed brunette girl staring directly at us.

"And who are you?" I asked mimicking her foreign accent. She stared at me right in the eye and after a minute she answered without breaking eye contact.

"My name's Ainoa and I've been sitting here right behind you for the whole bus ride." Of course I'd seen her before! She'd been sitting there the whole time reading a book while listening to her iPod. But I hadn't paid any attention to her.

"Well good to meet you Ainoa, see ya later then!" exclaimed Connor as he tried to escape from the girl's penetrating gaze that WAS kinda scary. The girl tried hold my brother back with a desperate look.

"Wait! You NEED help. You're going to a Mexican town where half the population speaks only Spanish. You'll need a translator. And, besides, I can help you around. I know this place by heart. You guys really need help, and I'm willing to do it for free, so take it or leave it!" she finished with a triumphant smile and dropped back to her seat.

"Wait, how do you know we don't speak spanish?" Connor asked.

"I heard you complain about the language a while ago"

I just stared and stared AND stared at her until the bus came to a stop near a gas station.

"Alright, you can help us, but just for a little while," Connor said giving me a look that said don't-even-try-to-say-no. I shruggled and grabbed my bag which was laying on the floor. Ainoa's eyes lighted up and with a huge grin she said: "Really? GREAT! Let's go, but first, what are your names?" She jumped out of her seat, the same as my brother, snatched up her bag and started making her way down the bus with us.

"I'm Travis Stoll, and this is my brother…"

"Connor," he interrupted stretching his hand to the girl. She giggled and shaked his hand. I rolled my eyes at my brother. In a couple of minutes he'll become Ainoa's best friend. He clearly liked the girl, in a friendly way.

"Goodbye Mr. Gonzalez!" She said cheerfully to the bus driver. He smiled and tipped his hat.

"Goodbye Ainoa Cialceta, say hello to your mother for me."

The instant I stepped out of the bus I was greeted with a suffocating hot wind. Since when were smelly busses air-conditioned?! I almost doubled-over. Connor did, thought, and would have fell on Ainoa if I hadn't catch him.

"Holy Zeus!"

"What?!"

I wanted to punch him. We hadn't been in the mortal world for more than a day and he'd already blown it.

"Nothing." I muttered and dragged my brother away with the girl following closely behind.

This was going to be one long year.


	3. The Coffee Shop

Hello humans!

I'm really sorry I take this long to update! Actually I had this document up since September...oops?

I'm really going to try hard next time to...umm...become quicker?

Thanks yellow331akb3 and DeadlyDaughterOfHermes! And here's my answer to DeadlyDaughterOfHermes'question: Ainoa is pronounced "Ah-in-uh-ah"...kind of o.O

**Picturesque: Chapter3 (Travis' POV)**

We sat at a coffee shop overlooking the old street. It was a 2-story building, so we were REALLY LITERALY overlooking. The town was small, which is another point to add to the list of "Cruel Things my Mother thought of as Punishments". It keeps growing by the day.

"Yeah, Travis was borned first, but I'm the best twin." The conversation on the table was mostly centered on Connor and Ainoa…well, mostly Connor. It's weird, isn't it? Ainoa, a girl we've just met, had becomed Connor's BFF in a matter of seconds. And she seemed quite content with the idea, which leads me to believe that 1) she hasn't got many friends, or 2) she has serious mental problems.

"Tell me about your lives in New York," said Ainoa, twirling her straw absentmindedly. It may be a coffee shop, but it was still a never ending summer, so they seemed to focus on frozen coffees, milkshakes and frappes.

"Well it was a fairly normal life…" began Connor, but I decided he had spoken enough already.

"We went to the Burkles Academy which was this really lame school for "trouble kids". Supposedly it helped them get a brand new attitude, never worked." I shruggled.

"Really? So are you two, like, trouble students?" she asked.

"You could say that…" I muttered. Connor snorted and said:

"Trouble students is an understatement, we're the best pranksters that have ever walked this earth!"

"Oh really?" she teased, her blue eyes sparkling.

"Well yes, of course!" he exclaimed.

"Who would have guessed? The way you wouldn't shut up throughout the bus drive," Ainoa began to laugh, but stopped suddenly. "You guys weren't supposed to be in school today, right?"

She looked so worried we both had to laugh. I ruffled her hair and she glared at me.

"Umm…not that I'm aware of, I think we were just supposed to arrive and get installed today." I blurted out quickly. _Man, if looks could kill…_

"I hope you're not lying," she growled while fixing her hair. "Cause pranking is fun and all, but missing school is a whole other level."

"What are you, our mother?!" complained Connor, but he couldn't help the smile.

We kept joking and strolling around town till the sun started setting, then Ainoa showed us the way to old aunt Louisa's place and bade us good night.

"This place is big!"

"Dude, it's GINORMOUS!" It really was. The front of the house was almost twice as big as the houses on its sides and it stretched back almost the same distance, a rock path lined by bushes led the way from the wooden gate to the front door and fruit trees grew everywhere.

"Shall we knock?" asked my brother with fake chivalry.

"Agreed." And together we knocked….making as much noise as possible.

A plump old lady appeared looking disgruntled.

"What in the name of….? Oh! Oh it's you, darlings! Oh!"

"I'm just guessing, but are you Aunt Louisa?" I asked.

"Yes, yes, come on in! I've been expecting you, sweeties." She said enthusiastically crushing us both with hugs.

"Ben! The boys are here! Come say hi! And you too Luke!" Her shouts were almost as painful as her hugs.

"What is it, auntie?" A small boy, around nine, came rushing down the stairs. His brown disheveled hair and plaid button shirt gave him a farmish look.

"Meet your cousins: Travis and Connor," she said proudly.

"Hello," grinned the boy. "I'm Lucaz, call me Luke, everybody does."

"Hi…" murmured my brother. Where all the people around here so freaking friendly?! I tried to help him with:

"Hey, I'm Travis and this is Connor we're…umm…we…"

"Are staying here." Finished Aunt Louisa.

"Yes, yes we are" I gasped.

"Oh yes, indeed!" exclaimed my brother…with a fist bump.

"Very well, then follow me." Said aunt Louisa, leading the way up the stairs.

"Seriosuly, was the fist bump necessary?" I muttered.

"Just trying to get into character." He said back patting my shoulder before leaving with the rest of the lot.


End file.
